Restaurant Career Advancement Strategies

Do you crave structure or strategy?

In order to grow in your career within the restaurant industry you must understand your management style and then find a company that is going to cater to that style. There are many different elements of a management style, but the one that I think is extremely important to maximize a career fit is understanding the degree of structured decision making capability you desire.

Let me define the extremes of this arena:

• If you are a manager who yearns for a high level of unstructured / strategic decision making capability this means you thrive off strategy decisions, new project implementation, change management and big picture aspects of business.
•  If you are a manager who is on the other side of the spectrum and yearns for structured decision making you thrive when there is a lot of defined systems, clear expectations and attention to detail.

Neither extreme is healthy or unhealthy and neither will be predominant in the level of leadership you can provide; however, different organizations cater more to one or the other so it is important that you are settled with an employer that can cater to your need for decision making capability.

In general, in the large, corporate companies managers will have less big picture decision making capability. This means the managers will have clearer expectations of how to succeed, be expected to follow the lead of their supervisors and adhere to strict policy. These companies have a track record of success and straying from their strategy is not going to lead to success or career advancement within these organizations. On the other hand, if you are able to meet the expectations set forth there is usually good promotability and development opportunity. If a company has over 200 units they typically fall into this category of employer.

In the smaller companies there is a need for manager who will set direction, strategy and make changes as the company adapts to the market. Managers who are able to do so will set the pace, systems and future for these growing companies. If you are a manager that thrives under structure and you step into a growing company like this you will find yourself very frustrated and not as successful as you would be in a highly structured environment.

A great way to determine where you are on this spectrum is to look at your past. Put a horizontal line on a paper and document the highs and lows in your career. After you have done so you should be able to identify some common denominators around the environments you have been in that have led to high levels of your success. Then think if these were very structured environments or if these high points where times when you had to utilize a lot of unstructured decision making. This simple exercise should give you more clarity as to your management style in this arena. Once you have this knowledge you should analyze the ideal career path based on how the company will allow you to leverage your structured / unstructured decision style. Finding a great employer match will help you grow your career, skills and advance to higher levels. Do not leave career growth to luck, make sure you are aware of your management style and find a GREAT fit!